Red Bull's critical F1 2025 design choice
Summary
TLDRRed Bull Racing faces a strategic dilemma regarding its 2025 Formula 1 car. Despite leading both championships, the team is no longer the dominant force in F1, with competitors like McLaren, Mercedes, and Ferrari closing the gap. Red Bull must decide whether to make significant changes to its car concept for 2025 or maintain a steady evolution, considering the massive rule changes set for 2026. The team's focus is to address the car's sensitivity and performance limitations without compromising the overall balance, as decisions made now could significantly impact its performance in the coming seasons.
Takeaways
- 🏎️ Red Bull is facing a critical decision regarding the development of its 2025 Formula 1 car, amidst challenges to its dominance.
- 🔄 Despite winning both championships, Red Bull is no longer the unchallenged force in F1, with competitors like McLaren, Mercedes, and Ferrari catching up.
- 📉 Sergio Perez's performance has been inconsistent, and Max Verstappen has voiced concerns about the car's development direction.
- 🛠️ Red Bull plans further upgrades for 2024 after the summer break but is cautious about significant changes due to upcoming rule changes in 2026.
- 🔧 The team aims to address the car's weaknesses, such as a narrow operating window and sensitivity, which make it difficult to drive in certain conditions.
- 🌐 Red Bull's car is quick but requires specific conditions to be at its best, unlike McLaren, which has a more versatile performance across various tracks.
- 🔄 The concept of 'asymptoting' is introduced, suggesting that development under current regulations may be reaching a point of diminishing returns.
- 🔄 Red Bull must balance immediate car improvements with long-term planning for 2026, considering the new power units and car designs.
- 💭 The team is considering whether to make aggressive changes to the 2025 car concept, aware of the risks and the need for a global compromise across all F1 tracks.
- 🚫 Red Bull is under pressure due to the cost cap and limited aerodynamic testing resources, which constrains their ability to make bold changes for 2025.
- 🚦 The 2026 rule changes are a significant concern, as they will require substantial R&D, and Red Bull is already at a disadvantage with the least testing resources.
Q & A
What decision is Red Bull facing regarding its 2025 Formula 1 car?
-Red Bull is considering whether to make significant changes to its car concept for the 2025 season, given the massive rule changes expected in 2026.
Who is Max Verstappen's closest challenger in the current Formula 1 season according to the script?
-Lando Norris of McLaren is Max Verstappen's closest challenger in the current season.
What issue did Sergio Perez face during the Hungarian Grand Prix weekend?
-Sergio Perez faced issues with the development path of Red Bull's car, branding it as not good enough, too sensitive, and too slow.
What is the main concern for Red Bull regarding its current car concept?
-The main concern is that the Red Bull car has a narrow operating window and is difficult to drive, especially in comparison to the more versatile McLaren.
What are the key weaknesses of the Red Bull RB20 that the team is trying to address?
-The RB20 has to run stiff, particularly laterally at the rear, which, combined with its suspension geometry, limits its performance and makes it tricky to drive on bumpy tracks.
What is the term 'asymptoting' as used by Red Bull's chief engineer, Paul Monaghan, referring to?
-Asymptoting refers to the idea that as development progresses, the rate of improvement decreases, eventually becoming so small that further gains make no practical difference.
How does the script describe the performance of the Red Bull car in fast corners?
-The script describes the Red Bull car as having tremendous aerodynamic efficiency in fast corners, allowing it to carry more wing without losing out in straights, but also mentions a correlation problem that affected its performance.
What is the primary goal for Red Bull in developing the 2025 car?
-The primary goal is to create a car with a wider operating window that is easier to drive and offers better performance across a wider range of conditions and tracks.
What challenges does Red Bull face in allocating resources for the development of the 2025 and 2026 cars?
-Red Bull faces the challenge of dividing limited resources, such as aerodynamic testing time and budget under the cost cap, between the development of the 2025 car and the more significant changes expected for the 2026 car.
What risks are associated with making a major concept change to the Red Bull car for the 2025 season?
-The risks include the possibility that the changes may not yield the expected performance improvements, and that the team might not have enough time to correct any issues before the next regulation cycle begins in 2026.
How does the script suggest Red Bull should approach the development of its 2025 car?
-The script suggests that Red Bull should make changes based on sound scientific principles and not panic, focusing on incremental improvements that enhance the car's overall performance and driver friendliness.
Outlines
🚗 Red Bull's 2025 Formula 1 Car Dilemma
Red Bull Racing faces a crucial decision regarding its 2025 Formula 1 car concept. Once seen as the unchallenged leader in the sport, Red Bull's dominance is now under threat as rivals like McLaren, Mercedes, and Ferrari catch up. The team has experienced a dip in performance, with driver Max Verstappen's car showing signs of inconsistency, particularly in handling and adaptability across different tracks. As Red Bull navigates the 2024 season with planned upgrades, it must decide whether to stick with its current car concept or make significant changes for 2025, all while balancing the looming regulations changes for 2026.
🔄 The Strategic Trade-offs for Red Bull
Red Bull must weigh the benefits of modifying its car concept against the potential risks. Although improving the ride and making other changes could enhance performance, the team is cautious about making such adjustments without compromising other strengths. With the 2026 regulation changes on the horizon, Red Bull is focused on maximizing its limited resources across multiple projects, including the development of the 2025 car and preparation for the new power units in 2026. The team aims to maintain a competitive edge without taking unnecessary risks that could lead to a repeat of McLaren's missteps in 2013.
🌍 The Long-term Implications of Red Bull's Decisions
The decisions being made by Red Bull's engineering team in Milton Keynes are likely to have far-reaching effects on the team's performance for the remainder of 2024, its competitiveness in 2025, and its ability to start strong in 2026 with the new Ford-badged engine. The team is cautious about making aggressive changes, opting for a strategy that balances performance gains with stability, ensuring they remain a top contender in Formula 1 despite the challenges posed by evolving regulations and increasing competition.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Red Bull's Car Concept
💡Operating Window
💡2026 Rule Changes
💡Aerodynamic Efficiency
💡CFD and Wind Tunnel Testing
💡Ride Height
💡Asymptoting
💡McLaren's All-Rounder Performance
💡Development Path
💡Cost Cap
Highlights
Red Bull faces a crucial decision regarding the development of its 2025 Formula 1 car.
Lando Norris of McLaren is emerging as a strong challenger to Max Verstappen.
Red Bull's dominance in F1 is being challenged by other teams like McLaren, Mercedes, and Ferrari.
Sergio Perez is struggling, and Verstappen has voiced concerns about the development of Red Bull's car.
Red Bull is working on upgrades for 2024 and considering significant changes for 2025 amidst rule changes in 2026.
The RB20's performance is limited by its operating window and sensitivity, making it difficult to drive.
McLaren's car is praised for its all-around performance across various conditions and tracks.
Red Bull's car concept requires a stiff setup, affecting its performance on bumpy tracks.
The RB20's aerodynamic efficiency allows it to carry more wing without losing straight-line speed.
Red Bull's chief engineer warns of 'asymptoting', where improvements become minimal over time.
The team must balance addressing weaknesses without compromising other performance aspects.
Red Bull is considering how to achieve the best average performance across all F1 circuits.
The 2026 rule changes will significantly impact car design, requiring teams to plan ahead.
Red Bull has the least aerodynamic testing resources due to its position in the constructor's championship.
The cost cap and limited resources make it challenging to aggressively develop the 2025 car without affecting 2026.
Red Bull must decide between focusing on peak performance or a more consistent performance profile.
The team is aware of the risks associated with making significant changes in the final year of a regulation cycle.
Red Bull's decisions in Milton Keynes will impact the rest of 2024, 2025, and the introduction of their Ford-badged engine in 2026.
Transcripts
Red Bull has a big decision to make
should it stick or twist when it comes
to its 2025 Formula 1 car not long ago
it seemed Red Bull would sail serenely
through 2024 and next season with its
dominance unthreatened McLaren driver
Lando Norris who has emerged as Max
forsten's closest Challenger this season
some this widespread feeling up when
during March's Australian Grand Prix
weekend he warned that there wouldn't be
a proper shakeup in the order until 2026
yet despite Red Bull's still being in
command of both championships it's no
longer f1's dominant Force it's not one
in four races Sergio Perez is
floundering and ven has sounded repeated
warnings about the development path of
Red Bull's car this peaked with his Fury
during last month's Hungarian Grand Prix
weekend when he branded the car not good
enough too sensitive and too slow so
what is to be done well Red Bull is
making the best of what it has for 2024
and there will be further upgrades after
the summer break but with massive rule
changes looming for 2026 dare it risk
making significant changes to its car
concept for next year ideally Red Bull
would have hoped to stay on top with
ease in 2024 then glide through 2025
with a straightforward evolution of the
existing car but there were always
concerns the chasing pack would catch up
McLaren Mercedes and Ferrari have all
won multiple races this year and
Justified that fear Red Bull team
principal argues that this being the
third year of the current regulations
cycle made this almost inevitable work
started some time ago on next year's Red
Bull rb21 the question is how much much
can be done to tackle the weaknesses
that appear to be intrinsic to this car
concept these problems are now well
known when working the Red Bull is still
probably the quickest car in Formula 1
the trouble is that the operating window
is difficult to get into and McLaren in
particular has a car that's capable of
being fast across a wider range of
conditions and tracks you might say that
the Red Bull is still f1's quickest car
but the McLaren is now perhaps its best
thanks to being a true allrounder
according to herner the top priority for
Red Bull is to create a car with a wider
operating window but this is easier said
than done the fundamental problem is
that the Red Bull rb20 is a car that has
to run stiff particularly laterally at
the rear that high level of roll
stiffness combined with relatively long
rear suspension travel for these cars
keeps the aerodynamics working
consistently and combines with the
anti-d front suspension geometry and the
tightly controlled rear suspension to
minimize the chances of pping problems
after all with these cars the key is to
have them as close to the ground as
possible to generate the most downforce
from the underfloor Venturi tunnels
without causing stalling or major
imbalance problems this concept served
Red Bull well for a long time but as
others have closed in it has become more
of a limitation last year or even early
this season Red Bull could raise the
ride height and give away a little
performance to improve the ride but now
it needs to eek out all the downforce it
can that can make the car tricky to
drive and is sometimes a Major
Performance limitation at tracks that
are bumpy like Monaco or those with
plenty of curb riding it also proved to
be a car that hadn't made the expected
gains in fast Corners based on what its
simulation data suggested pointing to a
correlation problem while at Spar vapen
was mighty in the fast Corners that was
a consequence of the car's tremendous
aerodynamic efficiency which allowed it
to carry more Wing than Rivals without
losing out on the Straits so it leaned
on another strength to counteract that
particular weakness in Belgium which
isn't usually possible to make matters
worst even at its best the rest are
closing in at times vapen has been able
to recreate the old Pace Advantage for
example in qualifying an Austrian
Belgium but more often than not it has
been very close Red Bull will make the
best of it this year and there will be
further updates after the August break
but how about the Red Bull
rb21 the rb21 will have been worked on
in parallel with development of the rb20
for some time but the full Focus will by
now have switched to 2025 inevitably as
these regulations mature so the returns
will reduce and Red Bull chief engineer
Paul Monahan has warned that potentially
they might be asymptoting when it comes
to developing under these regulations so
what does he mean by asymptoting well
this refers to the idea that as
development progresses so the rate of
improvement decreases think of it like a
curved line on a graph that becomes
shallower as time passes an ASM toote is
a line that is tending towards a curve
but never quite gets there so in this
case that means the line of theoretical
maximum performance that means you can
continue making incremental progress but
with time this reduces to the point
where the gains are so minuscule that
they make no difference if this is the
case then Red Bull has to decide whether
this is a phenomenon everyone is facing
or not if it is then the game now is
finding tiny gains within that however
Red Bull's concept is a little different
to others so it could be that its car
concept is fundamentally limited
compared to others and it needs a change
to unlock a higher ceiling it's
important to remember that this isn't
just about the ride of the car Red Bull
could focus fully on improving the ride
and end up costing itself performance
vapen has set tackling the ride problem
as a high priority but also warned that
it could take time it's hoped there will
be small gains this year but
realistically it's the 2025 car that
opens up the chance to make bigger
changes Monahan has warned that Red Bull
must not focus on this perceived
weakness at the expense of all other
factors the team will not address any
one performance limitation in deference
to another meaning that it's all about
what is the best Global compromise for
the tracks F1 visits that doesn't mean
that it will shrug and ignore the
problem but it isn't going to focus on
fixing it at the expense of all other
virtues but make no mistake such changes
will have been considered
the key question is how to get the best
average performance across the range of
24 circuits F1 visits in
2025 is it to have a more peaky car like
the current Red Bull that is mighty
sometimes but struggles on other
occasions or a more rounded McLaren type
performance profile with a car that
really has only been undeniably the
quickest on Pace at the hungara ring but
is always right up there however even if
Red Bull answers that question there are
reasons why making such changes might
not be in Red Bull's best interest
despite the possible short-term gains
with the rule changes of 2026
approaching F1 teams currently have
three different cars on their minds the
2024 cars are right at the end of the
design and development process despite
having a few more months of racing but
there's still a little work going into
that after all some of that work can
translate directly to 2025 then there's
the 2025 car that will already be
underway with many key design parameters
already chosen but there's plenty of
time for that to evolve and what Red
Bull is learning now will feed into that
but the key concern is 2026 given how
massive the changes will be with the new
power units and dramatically different
cars with active Aro as well as less
downforce and drag every team will want
to maximize the research and development
time for these cars preliminary work on
these cars were long since have started
but aerodynamic testing is prohibited
until January 1st 2025 therefore teams
will want to use as much of their
permitted wind tunnel and cfd resources
next year on the 2026 car and remember
Red Bull has the biggest disadvantage on
that score currently it has the least
aerodynamic testing thanks to its
permanent residence at the top of the
constructor's championship even if Red
Bull steps behind McLaren in the
Constructor Championship by the end of
the season and it's on target to do so
the 5 percentage Point increase in cfd
and wind tunnel resources won't make a
huge difference combined with the
limitations of the cost cap this means
there simply isn't the development room
to maneuver to go aggressive on 2025
without seriously compromising 2026 as
monah Hanah said it's all about working
out how the avail able resources and
remember there's also the cost cap to
consider a split between these projects
and it needs to do all of this with the
ongoing rumors about the stappen losing
faith in the team and overtures to sign
him for Mercedes as well as the
departure of design genius Adrien
Nei even if Red Bull can find a way to
allocate sufficient resources to make
big changes in 25 without ruining 2026
there is no guarantee it will work
making a change of concept also comes
with significant risk McLaren learned
that with the ill- fated MP 428 of 2013
according to team principal Martin
whitmarsh that was a consequence of
McLaren being greedy and over ambitious
technically for the final year of a
regulation cycle prior to the
introduction of the 1.6 L V6 Turbo
Hybrid engines in 2014 Mclaren opted for
a major concept change that was a big
risk given the change of Direction had
to pay off in one season and the McLaren
was fast in 2012 on average pace it was
actually the quickest car that Lewis
Hamilton fell out to title contention
was largely down to operational errors
and reliability problems but the feeling
was that if McLaren stuck with its
concept others could catch up and to
stay at the front it needed to be more
aggressive and big changes were made the
front of the chassis was raised the
front suspension went from push rod to
pull rod and the side pods were very
different the trouble is the process was
flawed the individual design areas were
well conceived and worked well in
simulation but when the car came
together it didn't work as hoped the car
produced good downforce but it was peaky
it also suffered from underfloor stalls
and lost too much performance when it
had to run run at higher ride heights
McLaren had so many problems that
serious consideration was even given to
bringing back the 2012 car that didn't
happen but McLaren struggled all season
with its work wasted given the all new
car for 2014 drivers Jensen button and
Sergio Perez had a tough year in a car
that never finished higher than fourth
McLaren slipped a fifth in the
championship and fell into the Midfield
in terms of its overall Pace there's
nothing to say Red Bull would suffer
from the same fate but this underlines
the risk of being too aggressive when
you only have one season to make it work
so what will Red Bull do well the one
thing we can be sure of is that it won't
panic and make changes without good
sound science underpinning them it's too
good a team for that McLaren and
Mercedes have come on strong while
Ferrari hopes to get back on track with
a post break upgrade to fix the
purposing problems that have Afflicted
it lately but Red Bull is still in a
strong position it could be that
relatively subtle changes will open up
the window of the car and improve the
driver friendliness and ride as Red Bull
technical director Pierre Vash said
recently it's not just about downforce
gains but allowing the driver to get the
pace out of the car and keep keeping a
good balance but what's clear is that
the decisions being taken in Milton
Kings right now could have a seismic
impact on how the rest of 2024 plays out
Red Bull's chances in 2025 and the
prospects of hitting the ground running
with the new in-house Ford badged engine
in 2026
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